Mia's choice
by ladymorgaine76
Summary: Transference orders arrive for Colonel Veers...but will Mia choose to go with him?


Two months...

Two wonderful months! And now he held those orders in his hands - the ones that would take him away from Mia's sweet arms...

Colonel Veers had received orders to assume command of the garrison in Coronet City, the capital of Corellia.

The former commander, Colonel Azziry, had been accused of accepting bribes from the Black Sun organization in order to turn a blind eye to their criminal activities.

Veers' name had been the first on the list for a replacement.

On any other occasion, he would've been happy that he was needed somewhere, and proud to even be considered a commander capable enough to fill that position. Not this time, however.

It was one thing to pursue his relationship with Mia on her homeworld. It was quite another to take her with him, facing the scrutiny of his peers and the ISB as he tried to explain how he'd gotten involved with a member of family under suspicion of Rebel sympathies.

He had sent the report, clearing the woman of any suspicion, of course, but the reputation was not to be gotten rid of that easily.

It could destroy his career.

But leaving her would tear him apart...

The memories came rushing back to him, momentarily drawing him from this matter.

Mia, smiling at him as they made love on her bed while her mother was away - the both of them whispering silly things to each other, holding each other close in the warm water of the bathtub - his lips on hers, gasping 'mine' over and over as she giggled with joy - her sweet laughter as they walked in the rain, out on an stroll to the Pandath-Illum lake - her small body, pressed to his as they danced...

How could he say goodbye to all of that? The answer was clear - he couldn't!

He'd do whatever it would take to have the woman he loved by his side. He had some friends back in Imperial Center - he could very well call in some favours a certain sailor owed him...

He decided that no time would be better to call that vac-head than now.

He dialled the number on his holo-comm and waited for an answer from the other side. After a long minute, a familiar holographic figure fizzled into being.

"Colonel Veers! To what do I owe this pleasure?" The voice of his friend, Captain Lorth Needa, was polite. Almost too polite.

"Problems?" Max inquired.

"I've got a hundred problems, and ninety-nine of them are called Ozzel..."He smirked at the Colonel, rolling his eyes. "Off the record?"

"Completely, my friend! I'll even put away my rank bars if you want me to..."

"The fellow is the most pompous, self-centered, finicky person I've ever encountered, Max! He doesn't even compensate for that by being competent... but at least the rest of the _Avenger_ 's creware hard-working people! Something had to be good about this assignment!" Needa conceded. "But you did not call over your concern for me! So... what do you need?"

" See? Now you've gone and hurt my feelings..." Veers mocked his friend.

"What feelings?" The Captain shot back playfully at the Colonel.

"You know, one of these days, I'm gonna get back at you for that remark, Lorth!" Max warned the other officer. "But I am here to call in a little favour from you..."

"I knew it! How 'little' is that favour and what's in it for me?"

" I need you to help with clearing out someone's file in the ISB database... and you're in it for the goodness of your heart and the priceless feeling of having done a good deed!"

"In other words... you have to give me something in return! How pretty are they?"

" It's not just the looks, old chap! It's the whole ensemble! You'd like her, I think... well... she does have a _feisty_ personality! Yes... you'd definitely like her!" Max announced with a wide smile on his otherwise stony face.

"Well, well! Either I'm hearing things, or tough old Iron Max has fallen for some native lass! I had heard of Taanabian girls' beauty, and judging from that stupid smile of yours, I can see that's quite true!" Lorth shook his head, chuckling. At least his friend seemed to be finally crawling out of that dark space he seemed to have enclosed himself in. He'd seen Max going through hell over Eliana's death...

"This one's special! Really special... problematically special..."

"What's the problem with her?"

Max pondered what he was about to divulge to Needa. They were friends indeed, but it didn't mean Lorth would take kindly to him going crazy over the Janson girl.

"The problem is this kriffing ISB agent Orson Krennic! He decided to crash my peaceful assignment on this garrison and give it a shitty little twist. He just handed me a file about some kid named Wes Janson, who'd failed to show up for enlistment at the Academy in Carida."

"And how does that concern you? Was that Krennic fellow too tired to investigate it himself? Or have you stepped into someone's territory... again?"

"I'm going to ignore that remark... but I'm going for the 'too tired' premise! I mean, you should have seen this guy! Prancing around here like we were all walking, talking piles of Bantha poodoo... let's just say that no one will miss him."

"A charmer, then..."

"Rather snotty, actually!" He growled.

"And how does this connect to this lady of yours?"

"She's his sister..."

"Krennic's?" Lorth asked his friend, raising an eyebrow.

"No!" Max bit his lip. "The Janson kid..."He muttered.

"Oh... oh! So that's it! You just had to go and fall for a Rebel sympathizer..." Needa chided his friend, visibly taken aback.

"Mia is not a rebel sympathizer! Why should the entire family be blamed for the actions of one kid? He's the one who ran off... she did nothing wrong!" Max was beginning to think that this had been a mistake. Maybe not even Needa would be of any help to him.

"Uhm... the girl has a name, then... so, this... Mia Janson. You want me to do what? Stick my head out for her and misplace her file?"

"Did I say that? What I'm asking you to do is just to check her file and find out whether she's still on the 'flagged' list. And if things go as planned, maybe I'll need someone to vouch for her... maybe."

Needa seemed to consider it for a while. Max had never been the kind of guy to be fooled by wily ladies. He was a cunning officer with a - usually – clear head on his shoulders. For him to fall head over heels for this unknown native woman had to mean that said woman was indeed special. It couldn't hurt to have access to those files and check if everything was in order... for Max's sake!

"Alright, alright... you've got me convinced. But if she doesn't check out as a safe 'target' for your affections, you'll have to promise me not to throw away your life for her! You do have your kids to think about..."

"I'm aware of it. Thank you, Lorth. I owe you one..."

"After that mess at Bestine, I do believe we're even!"

" Remember _that_ next time you feel like mocking the Armoured Transport Division, _vac-head_!"

"You and your armoured puppies..."

"Everyone's a comedian these days!" He laughed at the figure in his holo-comm. "But seriously, thank you! Now go back to putting up with Ozzel... by the way, you said ninety-nine of your problems were him. What's the hundredth?"

Even from the small projection of Needa, Max noticed his sudden stiffness.

"I'm sorry, my friend, but that one is a problem I'm not ready to share, as of yet..."

"Have it your way, then. But if I can help..."

"...I'll comm you, don't worry. Goodbye, Colonel."

Needa ended the transmission, and the image flickered for a second before it disappeared.

That part was done. Max was sure Lorth would do what he could to help him. Now he had to pay a visit to Mia and bring her the news... and hope for the best.

"Son of a kriffin'-sithspawned-bantha-poodoo!" Mia yelled, holding her bruised hand.

Her mother had suffered yet another relapse, and she just had to send the only farm hand that could repair the power generators, with her mother to Pandath for another session of Bacta infusions...

Wearing brown slacks and a tunic that used to be yellow, but that was now completely smeared with grease, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she was going through the burnt couplings that had caused the generators to stop working altogether.

She had to get them up and running again, or the entire farm would be without power, and both the automatic feed for the cattle and the watering systems for the grass fields would also be halted to a stop.

Of course she and the rest of the farm hands could very well take care of feeding the Nerfs and the Staga, as well as watering the fields, but that would take the whole day...and that meant she couldn't go to Pandath and see Max.

The memory of Max brought a bright smile to the woman's face.

Her Max!

She'd never been so happy in her life! Even if being with Max meant that she had to go against her own mother on this...because the older woman had informed Mia, no ifs and no buts about it, that she would not accept an Imperial Officer in her home!

It didn't matter that Max had nothing to do with Derrit's death...

It didn't matter that Max had actually sent a report clearing the two of them of any ties to the Rebellion...

It didn't even matter that Max had nothing whatsoever to do with the decisions made on clear conscience by her two brothers...

Max was the symbol of all the things her mother despised. The symbol of the enemy...therefore Lady Serina would never accept her daughter's relationship with that man!

And that was the one thing that kept Mia discomfited...the knowledge that ultimately she would be forced to choose between the love of her life and her family.

Or what was left of it...

She couldn't even be sure her baby brother was alright. In two months, never had any kind of news about Wes reached Taanab.

Her heart told her he was alive. She felt it!

What would Wes say about her affair with the Colonel?

Knowing how stubborn and short-tempered her brother could be, it was probably for the best he wasn't here to see her going all lovesick over Max!

She picked up the Hydrospanner and kept trying to detach the charred couplings. But they were absolutely stuck, and the more she tried to get them loose, the more she kept hitting with the tool on her already maimed knuckles.

Distracted by the task at hand, and using some very colourful language along the way, Mia didn't notice the approach of the man behind her.

When, in a fit of anger, she lift the hydrospanner to take a swing at the machine in front of her, a hand held her wrist in a firm grip.

"That, I can assure you, will _not_ help fixing those generators, little miss..." The mocking voice whispered in her ear. Wrapping the woman around her waist with his other arm, the man lowered Mia's arm enveloping her in a tender embrace. "My little wild woman..." His tone dropped to a husky inflection as he held her tight and kissed her on the neck.

Mia managed to turn around and face him. It was like he'd known she needed him here, with her...

She threw the spanner to the ground at stood on her toes, clinging to his neck, lifting herself towards his awaiting lips, surrendering to his kisses.

Max backed her against the generator and she flinched a bit, as her ribs felt the protruding edge of the coupling.

"Sorry love..." He moaned to her open mouth. The Colonel searched for a place where he could continue kissing his sweet Mia. "That corner seems good enough." Max winked at her.

"Oh Max! You're incorrigible! You know, mom's not at home right now..." She leered at him, nibbling his lower lip.

"Takes to long to get there..."he answered, nudging her nose tenderly.

"It's like ten meters from the generator's shed, Max..." She chided him.

Max pulled her closer towards him, until his hips were grinding on hers...and she could feel the urgency that was taking a toll on his body. Her eyes were wide as she felt his erection against her. The fact that she could make him react like that even covered with grease from head to toe and looking like a mess, gave her a jolt of pleasure!

"It's. To. Damn. Far..." He grunted, visibly aroused.

Mia kissed him lightly, and taking the hands that had been holding her close, she guided him to the spot he'd mentioned. She looked miserably at the ground beneath her feet, as she leaned on the wall...somehow she was sure that dirt soil would prove more uncomfortable than the durasteel floor of the AT-AT's...

"You sure can pick the worse places, Max..."

"I wasn't thinking about the floor, little one.."

His hands went for her slacks, and he unbuttoned them, sliding it to the floor along with her panties. He unbuckled his belt and his uniforms dropped to the floor.

Using one of his hands to caress one of her breasts and the other one to grab her buttocks, he went into her with a sudden, deep thrust.

Taken by surprise with his sudden possession of her, she couldn't help a loud cry of pleasure.

Gods, she loved feeling him this deep inside of her...filling her completely, like her body had been made to be taken by this man...

Max held her hips and lifted her, as he pushed harder and deeper into Mia. His whole body shivered as he increased the pace of his thrusts. He knew he couldn't last long, this time around. He felt himself getting closer to the climax, but he wanted her to come with him too.

It was no longer about his sole pleasure...He wished nothing more than to satisfy Mia, please Mia...He could give anything to her...Anything!

Crushing his lips on her sweet mouth, he used his tongue to open her lips.

He steadied his pace, until he felt the unmistakable signs that she was going over the edge too...and then he thrust deeper, harder, faster...until the tension suddenly exploded in his body and he heard Mia moan incoherent things, sobbing with the orgasm that washed through both lovers.

Max held on to Mia, as she tried to steady her breathing. Making love to her like this had been an impulse move on his part. But damn...with had been great!

And she was right about one thing. He did have a propensity for coming up with the most awkward places to make love to her...

"Well...that was...unexpected..." Mia murmured, her voice still unsteady.

"Unexpectedly good? Or unexpectedly weird?" He taunted her, twirling his fingers on her hair.

"Oh...definitely, unexpectedly...awesomely...good! You know I like being ravished by you like this..." Her voice only a low purr, while she gazed on him with her eyes still glazed from the throes of passion. "But it might be a good idea to get ourselves decent again...you never know who could come by. And I'm not overjoyed with us being caught with our pants down by the workers... " She sniggered at Max.

"It wouldn't be my greatest moment, I'm sure...being caught like this. I already have to explain the grease smeared jacket as it is." He gave her a mock glare, getting himself re-dressed.

"You can always claim you were trying to help me..."

"I can still try! Where's that hydrospanner? Ah...there it is..." He picked the tool from the floor and went about trying to remove the couplings that Mia had been struggling with. With almost no effort, Veers managed to get them out, and he offered Mia a cocky smile...to which she just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You're never going to let me forget that, are you? The big though man that gets things done with ease..."

" The problem is that you're this tiny little sample of a woman, trying to do big boys tasks!" His smile got wider as he noticed her temper starting to flare. She was easy to bait...and for some weird reason, he loved seeing her pouting and stomping her foot...like she was doing right now.

"Keep that up...I'll show what this _tiny little sample_ of a woman can do to you..."

She squinted at Max.

"Ooooh...Is that a promise? I heard about these clubs around the galaxy, where you could drag me to for punishment...they have all sorts of contraptions, cuffs, whips..."

"MAX!" She gaped at him. " Wait a second...how do you know of these things? You have something to tell me?"

He took a step closer and drew her to him. She looked lovely all flushed like this...

"Actually, I only know about it from the usual scuttlebutt and military personnel bragging... for now...but, If I did knew something out of personal experience, it would be my past. And just like you, I'm entitled to have one, Ok? What counts is what we do from now on...together! I told you, I'm not the kind of person to get into affairs when I have someone in my life. And we have each other!" He reassured her. "Which brings me to the real reason I came here...in the first place." His features took on a more serious look. This was it! He had to tell her about his transference...a knot of worry formed on his stomach.

"What is it?...Bad news?" She inquired, sensing his restlessness.

"It wouldn't be in any other occasion. But now..." He took his datapad from his pocket, activated it and pulled up the transference orders. Then he gave it to her.

Mia read the memo silently. He was being shipped to Corellia...away from her...

Her lower lip started to tremble as she mustered her strengths to swallow the impending tears that she felt starting to form.

" _Taanabians don't cry out loud..."_

The millennia-old credo of Taanab kept her steady! She gazed on her lover...the hurt was obvious to Max.

"Listen...I'm not leaving you here!"He held her face in his hands, leaning his forehead to hers. "I want to come with me...I need you to come with me..."

"Oh Max...Don't you think I want that too? But I can't...not yet..." She closed her eyes, feeling like the ground would open beneath her feet to swallow her whole.

Max's expression froze in anguish.

What could she possibly mean by not going with him yet?

"Mia..." He whispered, at loss for words.

"No Max...please...let me explain..." She proceeded, putting her right hand gently over his lips...just slightly brushing them. "I love you! I do! But this is too soon, too fast. We're going in too deep and we haven't had the chance to miss each other yet. I hurts me deeply to stay behind, but... _you_ need to miss me! You need to go back to your usual life, with your kids, your friends. You need to be sure you really want this!"

"But I do! Mia, I do! I swear I do!" He pleaded with her.

"No my love...you know as well as I that you can't just parade me right in front of your superiors and your fellow officers, without having uncomfortable questions being made. That Krennic character, is just waiting for a chance to get back at you after you stood up to him when he questioned me."

"Well, he was being an asshole...on my garrison..."

"Exactly! And you're the _by-the-book_ kind of a man. You're no-nonsense about your duties...which is why this will be hard on you! So...you go, you find a way for us to be together without me posing a risk to you, your career and your family...after you've done that, you come back for me! You hear me?" She held his big hands in her small ones, not breaking eye contact with him. "Max? I WILL be waiting for you...forever if I must! And that, my sweet Max, is a promise!"

"I love you!" He told her...and his feelings were all there. On that simple sentence that so many people these days seems to utter without truly meaning it...But he did! "You have no idea how this is tearing me apart. But even if I don't want to accept it right now, I know you're right. Let me make you my promise: _I will come back for you_!"

The Colonel lifted that tiny woman he so loved, and held her in a tight embrace. He would make this happen! No matter what! They would be together again...forever!

"When do you have to leave?"

" A week from today..."

"A week?..." She was losing him so soon...

"We can find ways to make it last! Besides I have two days leave to ready myself for the departure. Can you get out of the farm for two days?"

" I can always find an excuse! I'll ask Aunt Roz to stay with mom...You have plans?"

"How about going to Pendath? We've never been there together. We could rent one of those small hovercabins by the Pend-Ithil river..."

"I like the sound of that. I could take you to see the twin temples of the Daughters of Ithilia and the Sons Of Sendurii..."She kissed him lightly, putting aside the thought that he was leaving, for a while. "I'll even tell you the legend of the Harvest Goddess Ithilia and her lover, the Storm God Sendurii! It's a rather interesting story." She smiled fondly at him.

"Honey...you could recite chemical formulas for all I care! As long as you look at me with those sexy eyes of yours!"

They embraced, pushing the dark moods aside...They still had a week together! And Veers would make damn sure they would have the rest of their lives...


End file.
